If you’ve ever used a fitness tracker, you know how valuable they are when it comes to staying on top of your calorie intake, the number of steps you take per day and more. They can also be a great resource to keep you inspired, with a special sense of community. Many of the apps let you connect with friends and family so you can follow each other’s progress and provide encouragement. Unfortunately, since these apps have become popular, hackers are targeting their users. Criminals always set their sights on trendy sites and apps that give them access to more potential victims. Now, one of the most popular fitness apps has suffered a massive data breach that affects millions of people. You might be one of them!
Did hackers steal your personal information?
I’m talking about the popular fitness app MyFitnessPal. The app is owned by sports gear maker Under Armour. The company just revealed that on March 25, 2018, it discovered a major data breach that happened during the month of February that affects over 150 million users.
What happened was, an unauthorized party stole data associated with MyFitnessPal user accounts. Stolen data includes usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords. Meaning the passwords were encrypted with the hashing function dubbed bcrypt, which is used to secure passwords. The company claims that Social Security numbers, drivers licenses and credit/debit card information was not impacted. However, the company has hired a security firm to assist in an investigation as to what really went down and more bad news could be on the way. Under Armour has notified law enforcement about the attack and are taking the following steps:
Notifying MyFitnessPal users through email to provide information on how to protect their dataRequiring MyFitnessPal users to change their passwords and urging them to do so immediatelyMonitoring for suspicious activity and coordinating with law enforcementEnhancing its system to detect and prevent future unauthorized access to user information
What can you do to protect yourself now?
Since this data breach impacts nearly 150 million people, there’s a good chance that you or someone you know is part of it. The first thing that you should do is take Under Armour’s advice and immediately change your MyFitnessPal password. Also, if you use the same username or password across multiple platforms, change those passwords ASAP. Make sure to create strong passwords for every site that you use, don’t use something ridiculously easy like password123. Click here to learn how to create strong, hack-proof passwords. The next thing you should do is take a look at all of your financial statements. Look for any suspicious activity and if there are transactions that you don’t recognize, report them immediately to your bank. We also need to be on the lookout for phishing scams. Criminals always take advantage of incidents like this breach to try and find more victims. They will create fraudulent emails pretending to be from Under Armour or MyFitnessPal that contain malicious links. If you click on those links you could end up handing over critical data to these deviants. Most phishing emails are easy to spot if you know what you’re looking for. Criminals aren’t very bright when it comes to grammar and spelling, so you’ll probably see a few errors tipping off the fact that it’s a scam email. For practice, click here to take our phishing IQ test to see if you can spot a fake email. Have a question about this data breach or anything tech-related? Kim has your answer! Click here to send Kim a question, she may use it and answer it on her radio show. Have a question about self-driving cars? Ask Kim! She’ll have your answer. Just click here. The Kim Komando Show is broadcast on over 450 stations. Click here to find the show time in your area.
Don’t let hackers steal your information, learn how to hack-proof your digital life
There are tons of scams and data breaches all over the internet. That’s why it’s a good idea to try and hack-proof your life. Click here for 5 key steps to boost your safety online.
